In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The world is a barren place: physically and spiritually. When God created everything it was perfect (Genesis 1:31). But the world was unfilled and unformed (Genesis 1:2). So He planted a garden, a paradise, Eden (Genesis 2:8). He put a man and a woman in it. He said, “Be fruitful and multiply, increase and fill the empty earth.” (Genesis 1:28) Everywhere they would go, they would shape it, fill it, make a glorious, life-giving garden of the earth. Everywhere their kids would go the empty earth would bud and flower and blossom. They who had the breath of God in them were to be a source of life for the whole earth, fashioning it into a beauteous garden of fragrant blossoms, beneficial fruits, an oasis of joy. All the world would cease to be barren and become bounteous.